Necticut



(No Model.)'

A. J. SHIPLE Y & T. R. HYDE, Jr.

OAR SEAL.

No. 55 ,029. Patented Mar. 10, 1896.

Nrrn TATES s "a FIFICE ALFRED J. SHIPLEY AND TI-IEOPHILUS R. HYDE, J R, OF \VATERBURY, CON- NECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY,

on SAME PLACE.

CAR-SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 556,029, dated March 10, 1896. Application filed August 24, 1894- Serial No. 521,194. (No modeL) To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALFRED J. SHIPLEY and THEoPHILUs R. HYDE, J12, citizens of the United States, residing at W'aterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Oar-Seals, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention consists of a car or baggage to seal constructed with embossed recesses to receive the bow or shackle, which has one of its ends adapted to engage a spring-catch concealed within the disk and its other end interlocked with an embossed portion of the seal. I 5 In the accompanying drawings, illustrating our invention, in the several views of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a rearperspective view. Fig. 2 is an elevation with one plate of the seal removed; Fig. 3, a rear elevation of the complete and sealed device shown in part in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the shackle detached, and Fig. 5 is an interior elevation of the face-plate used in the device shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a modification of the seal-disk, but omitting the shackle; and Fig. 7 is an interior elevation of a modification.

The bow or shackle a may be of any approved material, but we prefer in the form shown to use a shackle of round or fiat wire, and in the case of round wire the ends will be flattened, and one end b of this shackle is provided with the notch 0, while the other end is beveledat cl and provided with the notch c, all for purposes presently appearing.

The seal is composed of a back plate f of sheet metal, struck up to form a central inward projection or boss 9, 011 opposite sides of which are guideways or channels h h, and these ways or channels stand out from the level of the back plate f to an extent about equal to the thickness of the ends of the shackle. The upper portion of this outward projection is provided with slots 1), corresponding in dimensions with the width and thickness of the shackle, so that when the shackle is fitted therein there will be no opportunity for the insertion of an instrument or implement within the seal along the shackle. A

spring-catch j is supported within the recess in the seal to engage the notch e of the free end of the shackle when said free end is inserted through the opening iinto the back plate and pressed home into its recess. The back plate f is combined with a face-plate k, which may be a disk of sheet metal, such as tin, having its rim bent or spun over on the back plate in any approved manner, or the back plate may be similarly joined to the face plate.

No necessity exists for compressing the seal in order to form a permanent union between the seal and the shackle, but of course the seal may be compressed about the shackle when applied, if desired.

The channel it is provided with a boss Z to interlock with the complemental notch c in the shackle, and in the form of shackle shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 7 the ends of the said shackle are narrower than the body and en ter holes in the seal of corresponding dimensions, so that a shoulder at is left above each end which overhangs the openings and thereby excludes the possibility of the entering of an implement between the shackle and its fastening for purposes of fraudulently disconnecting the seal and shackle. This construction, however, may be replaced by that shown in Fig. 1, either in round or flat wire. The further security of the sealing may be achieved by countersinking the face-plate, as in Figs. 5 and 6, to match the projections in the back plate. WVe have shown also in Fig. 7, in connection with this form of shackle, a seal wherein the spring has its end free and capable of a downward movement so as to yield to permit the insertion of the shackle and then to spring into the notch e in such end to lock the shackle in place. In all these forms of our invention it is designed that the channels or guides for the shackle within the seal shall be of such dimensions as to admit of one thickness of shackle only, and hence should the shackle be broken in fraudulent tampering with the seal it will be impossible to insert a second piece of wire.

When the shackle has been entered in the seal or disk until its notch or notches is or are engaged by the spring, it is clear that the union of the two is inseparable, excepting by the utter destruction of the Whole device.

Various forms of springs and their receiving-recesses may be used, but We esteem as requisites of our invention that the shackle and seal should be permanently united by an interlocking boss and notch on the seal and shackle respectively and that the free end of the shackle should be engaged by a spring concealed Within the seal and adapted to spring into and permanently engage a notch in such end of the shackle.

The drawings illustrate the principle of our invention, but many modifications of constructions obviously are Within the said principle and are meant to be included in the claim hereof.

our hands this 22d day of August, A. D. 1894:. 0

ALFRED LT. SHIPLEY. THEOPHILUS R. HYDE, JR.

\Vitnesses':

M. L. SPERRY, HENRY FEHL. 

